Posts categorized “Computer Repair”.

The picture I have above is the CyberPower Intelligent LCD CP1500AVRLCD uninterruptible power supply (UPS) available on amazon for 140.00 dollars.  I believe having a power backup is very important for your expensive electronics.  I strongly urge anyone with a decent desktop system and monitor to purchase one.   Laptops have their own built in battery backup but I am sure they can benefit from some of the additional protection offered by having a UPS.  On fairly powerful systems the UPS isn’t going to last but a few minutes but it does come with software that will tell your computer to shut down once the battery starts getting low.  Having a UPS also helps prevent data corruption issues and other issues associated with sudden power loss.  I can’t honestly recall a case as a computer repair tech where a power supply (other than the really cheap ones) died while hooked up to a UPS.

One thing I like about this particular model unit is the information given on the LCD.  The most useful features are the display showing how long it will run if you lose power at the current power usage and the other is a kilawatt display showing your current power usage.  At this exact moment I am using 203 watts (0.203 Kw) if I bring up a usage calculator such as http://www.electricity-usage.com I can see that running this computer 24/7 costs me about 15 dollars per month.  Now I do realize there are cheap devices that will measure wattage usage such as the KILL-A-WATT device but I had a bad experience with one of those hooked up to a window AC once and have decided against hooking it up to my computer components.

Clipmate saves everything you copy into the clipboard (you know the clipboard, copy/paste, ctrl+C/ctrl+V).   If you take a screen shot with Prt Scr key even that will be saved into clipmate.  You may think clipmate isn’t that useful but trust me once you get into the habit of copying and pasting clipmate will constantly help you.   Lets say for example I ran into a very strange error I never thought i’d see again with a client and I was searching all over the place for additional information.  Well lets say I finally resolved that situation and then 2 years later I run into the same issue.  With clipmate I can actually search through all my old clips and get an idea of what I did to solve it.  Some may find that hard to believe to be able to find that kind of information from clipboard history but once you get in the habit of using clipmate copying useful things just becomes second nature.  Whats that you say?  That’s what favorites are for?  I have over 33,000 clips!  Lets pick one at random…

1/13/2009 3:21:53 PM Maneki Neko     (ok what the heck is that, lets look for clues!)

1/13/2009 3:22:21 PM Solar Powered Relaxation Toy (what in the world?)

1/13/2009 3:28:59 PM Long receipt from jlist (now lets find out what i ordered by using google…)

Ok now I remember!  This is a head bobbing fortune cat that’s suppose to be like a financial lucky charm.  I have him on my desk at work as a reminder to keep on keeping on!  You know..because his head bobs infinitely and he has one fist up in the air?  🙂

Visit Thornsoft’s website for more information on clipmate: http://www.thornsoft.com/

When process hacker first came out I really liked the application.  The only down side is that back then it was a .net application and not everyone had .net installed.  Ever since process hacker 2.0 was released the program no longer required .net and I strongly believe this should be on every ones computer.  Doesn’t matter if you are a computer repair tech or not.

Process hacker has many features that I find useful but I am going to list a couple that my readers may find really useful.

1. Able to verify digital signatures and allows you to sort by Trusted/Non Trusted.  This allows you to quickly find malware as it is pretty rare for malware to have a cert (though it does happen).  To turn this on go to Hacker > Options > Advanced > Check Images for digital signatures and packing.  Then right click the column header (Name, PID, CPU, etc etc) then add Verified Signer and Verification Status to the Active columns.  Now you are able to sort by Verification status or Verified Signer.   If you want to reset to the normal tree view just keep on the column header “Name” until the default tree view comes up.

2. The ability to suspend a process.  Lets say you have a process that’s running and slowing you down or getting in the way but you don’t want to terminate it.  You just want to pause it.   Simply right click the process in process hacker and then click suspend.

3. The TERMINATOR!  You know those programs that refuse to close when you try to end task via task manager?  Well the terminator doesn’t take crap from any process.  It doesn’t matter if the process is an antivirus that boasts about how it can’t be closed by viruses.  The Terminator will terminate that process no matter what (least from what i’ve seen).  Careful what you terminate though as the Terminator has no limits it can terminate processes the operating system needs which will result in a blue screen then you’ll have to reboot.

There is much more to process hacker than just those things I listed above.   There is also several plugins that further enhance process hackers capabilities.   Including a virus total uploader for you virustotal fans.  They have both a install version and a portable version,  check those out at the following website: http://processhacker.sourceforge.net/

I never really felt multiple monitors helped that much.  When I needed more screen real estate I simply bought a bigger monitor that supported a higher resolution.  I just felt it was a hassle to deal with that second monitor until a few months ago when I discovered Ultramon & Display Fusion Pro.  Both applications can create additional taskbars on the extra monitors that act just like the original taskbar.   Ultramon is 40.00 and Display Fusion Pro is 25.00.  If you are looking at just the taskbar feature I prefer Display Fusion Pro because it adds start menu, date, time, and the tiny show desktop option.

I’m not sure just showing you does it justice. You really can’t appreciate the second taskbar until you start using it. Personally I keep my work related applications on my left monitor and my other applications on my right.  I really don’t think I can ever go back to just a single monitor.

Today I was sitting at my day job and I received notification that they were switching from Trend Micro to Norton.   I thought to myself…thats interesting because that’s like going from the fire back to the frying pan.  Norton for companies is a lot less bloated than the home version but there are still better solutions out there.  Near the bottom of this notice there was a segment that we no longer get Trend Micro for free for home.  It’s no secret that i’m not a fan of Trend Micro so I considered that to be a good thing.  Anyway at the bottom of this e-mail was 2 links to 2 pretty popular PC magazines with articles on anti-viruses to help us choose an alternative.

So I view these articles and my response is this:

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT PLEASE DO NOT WRITE TO THE WORLD ABOUT IT!

One of the articles gave the #1 spot to an antivirus that had worse detection but a nicer looking interface.   I am not making this up!  If you read an anti-virus review that gave a higher score to an inferior product because of a nicer interface please post a nasty comment for me!

The other article had tests being done where it showed several products scoring 100% in detection.  If you do a test and even one anti-virus gets 100% then you need a better test.  If you do a test and several antivirus products get 100% then you just need to step aside and let someone that knows what they are doing do the tests themselves because you obviously don’t have a clue.  Another thing that the second article was guilty of was giving high scores to products I know bog down your system BIG TIME.   I don’t care how good it is at stopping viruses,  if it slows down the user its garbage!

My personal favorite Antivirus is Avira.   It doesn’t have a nice interface but its detection is consistently top notch.  Avira’s removal process isn’t as good as some other anti-viruses but for most advance users just being told there’s an infected file is all they need.  For antimalware I like Malware Bytes because they have Merijn Bellekom….enough said.

So I swapped from U-verse 24mbps service to Time Warners (RR) 50mbps service today.  I had everything ready for the tech.  I even went as far as having the cable line on the table next to a laptop with a surge protector on the table.  Line was already ready to be plugged in outside.  With my preperations it only took them 5 minutes to get me online.  Hopefully they will take that into consideration when they are billing me that 40 dollar install charge!

If you are a serious tech geek like me you probably already have a really nice router with custom firmware setup.  The first thing you are going to try to do is put the router into bridge mode.  Let me save you some time by telling you that bridge mode has been hidden by Time Warner.  To access bridge mode you must go to one of the following:

http://192.168.0.1/TlModeChange.asp
http://192.168.100.1/TlModeChange.asp (This one is usually to change it back into NAT mode)

*Note: default login and password is: user

Don’t forget once in bridge mode it’s just like any other cable modem.   When I say it’s like every other cable modem I mean you will need to power cycle the modem by unplugging the power then replugging it anytime you connect the modem to a new device.  So far the service is rock solid but I will update this blog post if something goes wrong.

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So I recently decided to give 3d a try. Information was difficult to find as it’s really not as popular as you would think. I will tell you the hardware I have and perhaps it will assist readers even if they don’t have the exact same hardware.

TV:    Mitsubishi 73inch DLP WD-73C9

Video Card:   ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series

3D Adapter:   Mitsubishi 3DA-1 3d Adapter for 3d DLP TV  (Some newer tv’s do not need a 3d adapter)

The first thing you need to do is add a new resolution.  For my current drivers that is under My Digital Flat-Panels in the HDTV Support area.  If the Add button is grayed out you may need to set resolution to 1920×1080 first.  Anyway you want to add the resolution of 1841×1036 at a refresh rate of 60 (this custom resolution is so the complete image fits on screen).  Some people say 24hz refresh rate instead but i’m not sure if thats needed with my particular 3d adapter.   Once you have your resolution added then go and switch into that resolution.   Once you are in your new resolution make sure overscan is not enabled which is under My Digital Flat-Panels in the Scaling Options area.    Make sure your 3d mode is activated in your TV’s menu options.

To play 3d content in Side by Side (SBS) format you simply play the video using pretty much any software player then use the 3d adapter remote to toggle to L | R format.  If the 3d looks inverted go into the TV menu’s 3d option and reverse it.  Playing 3d blurays is a different story.  For blu-ray movies I have typically see people downloading blu-ray ISO’s and using AnyDVD software to load them into Cyberlink PowerDVD 11.   Since blu-ray 3d is not the SBS format you will need to put the 3d adapter into NORMAL mode.

I hope this article helps someone out there because it sure was a pain for me to find this information!

I have been considering starting up a separate website dedicated on information catering to computer repair technicians.   What’s that you say?  It’s called technibble?  No no no.  I am not talking about a website about running a computer repair business I am talking about a website for information on computer repair.   For example newest tools to use,  techniques to speed up jobs, details on viruses perhaps even including full install logs?  If you are a computer repair technician then post your opinion below.   If I get a few requests but not enough to warrant a dedicated site perhaps I will create a category on this blog that caters to some of that type of information.

I received an invitation to work for support.com today that had the following info:

• 17 days of training required on tools and processes used in service delivery. All training hours paid at standard rate.  Instructor-led training classes delivered online Monday- Friday 9am -5:30pm EDT.
• Post – training, minimum 20 hours work required; up to 40 hours available. Willingness to work for at least 3 months post-training
• Work to be performed on scheduled shifts
• $13.50/hour

followed by a special unique link that forwarded me to: http://quiz.support.com/mini_cl.php
Now I already gave my special link to someone else but I figure since I know a lot of curious computer repair technicians visit my website I thought i’d provide the forwarded link just in case it works to apply.  Now I realize 13.50 isn’t much but I know some of you need the money.   I hear mixed reviews about the performance of support.com but none the less I have to give them props for hiring American employees rather than getting their staff from India.

Please stop purchasing software that is designed to speed up windows.  Occasionally yes you may get a tiny tiny tiny performance boost in some situations.   It is far more likely that you will run into a program that messes something up.   I have seen it countless times where a speed boost utility will set certain services to manual which should never be set to manual.   You may not notice a problem initially but then issues start coming up out of the blue such as system tray icons not showing up.  You may find that suddenly windows updates don’t work.  Don’t even get me started on those registry cleaning programs.  I have NEVER EVER seen a problem fixed by a registry cleaning program!